


Three Skeletons Walk into a Bar

by PrincessJaybird



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baby Blasters (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Gaster Blaster (Undertale), Anxiety, Babybones (Undertale), Big Brother W. D. Gaster, Brotherly Love, Experimentation, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Gaster Blaster Papyrus (Undertale), Gaster Blaster Sans (Undertale), Gen, Good W. D. Gaster, Illnesses, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Parent Grillby (Undertale), Sans and Papyrus are twins (4), Unethical Experimentation, Wingdings is 16, Younger Brother Papyrus (Undertale), Younger Brother Sans (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23222221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessJaybird/pseuds/PrincessJaybird
Summary: Five years ago, Wingdings Gaster disappeared from the Underground. No one could find him and he was presumed to be dead. Then one day, he reappears in a small bar in Snowdin with two small skeletons who he calls his little brothers, and they have some interesting magic as well. Just what had happened during all that time?(ON HIATUS)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 139





	1. Cover Page

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just trying this story out for fun. I came up with the concept and thought it would be fun to try and write.
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	2. What'll You Have?

_Run!_

_Run! Run! Run!_

_Don’t look back! Just keep running!_

_Can’t get caught! Can’t go back!_

_Must protect! Can’t let them get hurt! Must run away!_

_Not running fast enough! Pick them up! Carry them!_

_Not safe yet! Can’t rest! Hurry up!_

_Run! Run! Run!_

_Run!_

*****

*****

*****

**For the first time in years, they were free.**

**————**

Grillby considered himself an old monster. He lived on the surface when he was just a boy, he fought in the Great War when he was fairly young, and then he spent the rest of his adulthood building a humble life for himself. So yes, while he still had a few several centuries to live, he’d consider himself an old monster.

Snowdin was a lovely little town that was in a state of eternal winter, and Grillby didn’t mind this. He was made of fire after all, so the cold didn’t fazed him. This was one of the factors that convinced the fire elemental to build up a restaurant in the sleepy little town.

It was another busy weekend at his bar that day. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the same combination of the mine workers, the Canine Unit, and his usuals, but it was definitely rewarding. Grillby felt both proud and exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to close up, go upstairs, maybe listen to the radio for a little bit, and then proceed to sleep for a healthy eight hours. Unfortunately, it wasn’t closing time yet and he still had a few of the members of the canine unit and several other patrons left to serve before he could rest.

The fire elemental wasn’t too upset with this though. He really enjoyed his job. He loved the savory smell of burgers and fries when he cooked, he loved the fluidity of mixing drinks, and he loved giving the citizens of Snowdin a safe and warm haven from their stressful lives. It was his calling.

Most of the time, the patrons wouldn’t mind Grillby while he was working, and he honestly preferred it that way. He could get more done without having to entertain his guests. They were more than capable of doing that themselves by buying a drink, listening to music on the jukebox, or playing poker. Although, the dogs usually took up the poker table, but they always welcomed people to watch.

One activity that Grillby notice was always prevalent in his humble bar was gossip, and he had learned plenty of it as an unnoticed server. Sometimes his customers would try to engage the elemental in their stories, but Grillby tried his best to stay out of it and refrain from voicing an opinion in matter he had no hand in. Although, that didn’t mean he wasn’t innocent of occasionally eavesdropping. 

“Did you hear that there was another cave-in at the mines today?” Bonnie, a rabbit monster and the only shopkeeper in town was chatting away to her cousin, Dizzy. “The earthquake we had a couple days ago really put pressure on the beams in the tunnels to their limits, and that nasty blizzard yesterday did it no favors either. Apparently, the safety regulations weren’t up to code and a whole tunnel collapsed on itself. No one got hurt, but I heard that the supervisor was summoned by King Asgore himself! He was in some serious trouble.” 

Dizzy groggily lifted her head up as she took another shot of whisky. Her head once again fell onto the table, the drunk rabbit was truly living up to her nickname. “Awww nutsss, doesss that mean we’re gonna have another blackout?”

Grillby sighed. It was very likely that that would be the case. Blackouts were pretty common in Snowdin, mostly because they were the furthest away from the Capitol and there were three other districts to prioritize. So, whenever there was a coal shortage in the Underground, which was pretty much every week or two, Snowdin would be plunged into darkness. 

Most of the residents were pretty used to it by now. Besides, years of living under the mountain had made their night vision amazing to the point where they could navigate just fine in total darkness. It was just a pain when they had to go an entire day without electricity. Luckily most of the residents had fur.

“I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they did.” Bonnie said as she rolled her eyes. 

Dizzy just groaned in drunk frustration. “I am ssssssick and tired of all those high ’n mighty monsters in the palace making dessssicionsss on our behalf. Ssssnowdin issss where all their precioussss coal comesss from in the first place. SSShouldn’t we get top priority? Sssomeone oughta go up there, and give that all-mighty king a pieccce of our mindsssss.”

“Don’t talk like that! Asgore tries their best to accommodate everyone.” Bonnie said before she mumbled to herself, “Although, if this is the best he can do, I fear for our future.”

“I’ll drink ta that.” Dizzy threw back her head and downed the rest of her drink. She thenlooked up at the bartender and shakily rose her cup, “Hey Grillbzzz, can I get another shhhhhot over here?” Grillby didn’t move to get more alcohol. 

“Daisy, no. You’ve had enough.”

“Awwww, cmon. Don’t be sssssuch a sssstick in tha mud.” Dizzy slurred, then turned to the fire elemental again, “I’m not ssssome lightweight. I can handle it-“

Just then, a blast of cold wind rushed into the warm bar, and as quickly as it came, it went as the newcomer closed the door behind him, shivering and coughing at the change in temperature.

Admittedly, Grillby stared, and it seemed like everyone else in the bar did too with how quiet it became. If the monster noticed, he didn’t make it known. Grillby didn’t recognize this new monster. He had never seen him in the bar before today. Strange. Grillby thought to himself. Hadn’t had a new face in Snowdin in years. Not since the coal mines first opened up.

This new monster wore an old cloak that was wet in some places and completely frozen in other places. In his arms, he held a large bundle of blanket that seemed to be wrapped around a . . . something. It wasn’t until the blanket moved that Grillby realized that there was another monster wrapped up in the newcomer’s arms.

But the thing that really made this new monster stand out was his complete lack of fur . . . or even skin. 

He was a skeleton monster.

The bar was silent as the other patrons stared at the new arrival. Skeleton’s were incredibly rare monsters after all, and it wasn’t just every day that one just walked into an establishment like _Grillby’s_. 

However, the skeleton ignored this and proceeded to limp over to an empty booth in the corner of the bar. He set the blankets down on the seat and then gently shook the bundle, whispering something low and private. To everyone’s surprise, two skeleton children lifted their sleep-heavy heads from under the blankets. 

The larger skeleton whispered something quietly to smaller ones, and they both nodded sleepily as they rubbed their eyes. As they shifted to the far corner of the booth, the skeleton shuffled painfully over to the bar, and up to Grillby.

Up close, the fire elemental could now see that this skeleton was fairly young. Definitely in his teens still. He didn’t meet Grillby’s eyes, but the bartender could still see the cracks that ran deep in his skull.

He looked tired, too. The kind of exhaustion that comes from physical exertion and a lack of sleep. When he spoke, his voice sounded rough and raspy, like a sore throat, “Are you the owner?”

Grillby nodded. The skeleton then reached into his pocket, pulled out a small handkerchief pouch, and then dumped his gold coins onto the countertop. It wasn’t until then that the fire elemental noticed the huge, gaping holes right in the center of both of the young monster’s hands. This unsettled Grillby slightly, but he quickly shook himself out of it.

“How m-much food can I get for this?”

Grillby looked down at the coins in front of him. Only five G. That would barely get him a decent drink, not that he was old enough anyway. But then Grillby stole a glance back to the booth with the two baby bones peeking out from their seats in the booth, eyeing the fire elemental warily, and then back to the skeleton in front of him, who chose to instead inspect the wood of the counter. 

_“This can get you a burger and a large fries.”_

The skeleton let out a sigh of relief, but did not smile, “That would be perfect, thank you.” He then pushed the coins closer to the fire elemental then stumbled back to the booth where he left the two children.

Grillby just took the coins and put them into his register. He then walked to the kitchen and grabbed a to-go bag that he always had on the warmers, just in case. He also made sure to grab three small carton of milk from the refrigerator to go with the meal.

Of course five gold coins wouldn’t normally be enough to pay for a meal like this, but Grillby had seen the look in the skeleton’s posture, and in the children’s eyes too. They weren’t just hungry, they were _starving_. He could afford to lose a bit of gold for a good cause. Maybe he could just set up a tab for this newcomer, if he ever came back again.

He walked back into the bar and over to the booth were the skeletons were. The eldest skeleton sat at the edge of the seat while the two smaller ones were squished together. 

The children looked drastically different from each other. The one right next to the wall was slightly shorter than the other child. He had smooth facial features and large owl-like eye sockets with light blue eye lights inside them that acted as pupils. The child that was right in the middle on the other hand had sharper features in his skull and a longer face. He had a square jaw and tiny eye sockets with small orange eye lights inside them. 

They seemed to be chatting to each other and the elder skeleton in hushed tones, and they were smiling. The elder skeleton laughed at one point, but then the laughter turned into a string of wet coughs that took him a few seconds longer than normal to get a handle on. The children’s eye sockets scrunched up in worry and they reached out to the elder skeleton, but he stopped them by raising his hand as a sort of barrier between him and the children. 

Once the coughing fit passed, the elder skeleton realized that Grillby was approaching, he turned away from fire monster, not meeting his eyes, and he didn’t say anything. Grillby just set the bag and the cartons down, then made his way back to his bar. Before he could get to far, he could hear the elder mutter, “Thank you.”

By the time Grillby was behind the counter again, the energy of the room picked up again and people went back to their own business . . . mostly.

“Wow, skeleton monsters. Never thought I’d see one of those again.” Bonnie commented out loud to herself.

Dizzy hiccuped, “Weeelll, I guesssss anythin’sss possssible.”

“Did you see those two kids? They are absolutely filthy.”

“Yeeeaah, dirty little sssskeletonssss.” Dizzy said as she looked behind her, “Awwwww, they’re sssso cuuuute.”

“Honestly, what is that kid doing to those poor little dears. They don't even have any shoes on, and in this weather. Honestly, he looks like he should still be in school himself, not doing . . . whatever it is he is doing. Raising them? _*gasp*_ You don’t think he kidnapped them, do you?”

Grillby rolled his eyes and once again stole a glance over to the skeletons. The eldest had opened up the bag and had started to take out the burger. The little ones gawked at the sandwich with drooling mouths and wide eye lights, and Grillby couldn’t help but smile. The eldest then summoned up some of his magic so that a small, sharpened, white, bone bullet had manifested itself in his hand. Then, he cut the burger in half with his bone knife, and then gave each half to the children.

The children devoured the food with the savageness of a hungry animal. Grillby felt a weird mix of both flattery and concern. But then, the eldest stopped them, talked to them quietly, and then the children began to eat at a much slower, but no less starved, pace.

The elder skeleton smiled fondly at them.

Not long afterwards, the tallest child looked up at the elder skeleton. His voice was so loud that even Grillby could hear him over the noise of the bar.

“ARN’T YOU GOING TO EAT?”

Grillby had to strain a little to hear the older skeleton’s reply, “I’ll finish whatever you don’t. Don’t worry about me.” He said before he coughed wetly a few times into his closed fist.

The skeleton child frowned, “BUT, YOU’RE HUNGRY TOO.” He stated this as if it were a fact, not a question.

“I’ll be fine,” He said, then rubbed the child’s skull “Just eat until you’re full.”

The child pouted, but then continued to eat his meal.

Interesting . . .

“Do you think we should tell the guard?” Bonnie asked Grillby,

The fire monster looked back at the rabbit in from of him, _“Tell them what?”_

“About this!” Bonnie whispered harshly as she discreetly pointed to the skeletons, “There is obviously some kind of child neglect or endangerment going on here. Shouldn’t we report it?”

Grillby nodded over to Lesser Dog, Greater Dog, and Doggo at the poker table. While they were still playing their game, their eyes often shifted back to the little group in the booth. Keeping a close eye on them and how they behaved.

_“I think they are aware of the situation.”_ Grillby said. But then he noticed that the seat next to Bonnie was empty, _“Where’s Dizzy?”_

“What do you mean? She’s right here-“ Bonnie glanced over to her side, and then her eyes went wide and she gasped. She spun around, seeing Dizzy over by the back booth with the skeletons. She was reaching over the table, trying to touch the frightened skeleton children at the end of the booth, but the elder skeleton pushed roughly her arm away from them. His eye lights flared, dangerously.

“Daisy!” Bonnie shouted as she rushed over to, grabbing her by the hook of her arm. “What are you doing.”

“I’m jusssst saying hi to the nice little ssskeletonsss, but this guy won’t let me.”

The skeleton glowered at the drunk bunny, “Because you were obviously making them uncomfortable. Besides, there is no way in hell I would let a stranger near my brothers, especially a stranger who’s drunk.”

Oh, so they are brothers. That’s how they’re related. Grillby decided to walk over there to defuse the situation before it got out of control.

“Whatsss that ssuppossed to mean bonehead.” Dizzy’s face crunched up in disgust, “Are you dissscriminating againssst me?”

The elder skeleton sighed and stood up. He was much taller than Dizzy, but liquid courage wasn’t allowing the rabbit to feel threatened, “All I’m saying, is that you are currently not under control of your own actions. Therefore, I do not feel comfortable having you touch my brothers.”

“I wassssn’t gonna hurt them!” Dizzy shouted, causing the entire bar to turn and watch the scene, “I just wanted to ssssay hi.”

“Daisy, let’s just go-” Bonnie tried to pull her cousin toward the door, but the drunk bunny brushed her off.

“No. I want to ssssay hi to the little sssskelesss.” Dizzy reached out to push the elder skeleton out of the way, but her hand didn’t even touch his bones before the skeleton grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, causing the bunny to bend over. 

Grillby heard a pop. 

A scream. 

He hurried his pace.

Bonnie yelped in surprise, “What are you doing! Let her go!”

_“Whoa! Easy now.”_ Grillby said, rushing up to the two monsters, _“Let’s not do something we may regret latter.”_

It was at that moment that the dogs jumped up from their seats, summoning up their magical weapons as they rushed over to the skeleton. They held their sword-and-spear-shaped bullets threateningly next to the skeleton, poking him in the ribs and neck. There was no chance he could escape. 

Greater Dog barked at the skeleton **< Young man, stand down. Now!>**

Grilllby was about to translate for Greater Dg, but then, for the first time, the skeleton made eye contact with the monsters, showing his eye lights. Grillby could now see that the newcomer had two different colored eye lights, the left was cyan while the right was orange. 

“Then why don’t you tell this lady to keep her filthy paws to herself.” He said then harshly pushed Dizzy away from him and into Bonnie arms.

“Owwww,” Dizzy whined as she held her arm, “Why did you do that? You disssslocated my ssshoulder!”

The skeleton huffed annoyedly, “I only twisted your arm. I could have done much worse you know.” he said in a low, intimidating manner.

That was enough for the two rabbit monsters. Without hesitation, or fighting on Dizzy’s part, Bonnie grabbed her cousin and scurried out of the establishment, but not before she gave the older skeleton a nasty look.

Grillby sighed as he ran a hand across his face. He was about to speak up when Doggo snarled at the skeleton. “What the hell was that all about!?” He barked aggressively. This was not going to end well.

_“Look, how about we all just calm down-“_

“I was defending myself and my family from a hostile monster.” The skeleton shot back, equally enraged, 

Doggo just scowled at him, “Who are you?”

The skeleton glared down at the Royal Guard, shaking slightly, but not from fear or even rage, Grillby noticed, “That’s really none of your business now, is it?”

“It is my business if you pose a threat to the people of this town.”

_“Come on now, don’t fight in front of the children.”_ The children in question were huddled close together, hugging each other as they watched the dogs in front of them. Their eye were wide with the lights inside them the size of pinheads. It made Grillby feel sad, no child should ever experience fear like this. _“Let’s discuss this rationally-“_

“Let me tell you this. I don’t want fight, but I will do whatever it takes to protect my-“

Suddenly, the skeleton began to cough violently again, but this time, he was doubled over by the force of it.

This broke the children out of their spell. They jumped off the seat and rushed over to their brother. The taller one reached out his hand to put in on the elder skeleton’s back in support while the littler one stood right in from of him. With every wet cough, they cringed in sympathy for their older brother.

“dings? are you okay?” The smaller skeleton asked,

Grillby knelt down to the skeleton’s level, _“Kid, you alright?”_ It was a stupid question, but the fire monster still had to ask.

Then without warning, the older skeleton threw up onto the floor, causing the dogs to jump back in disgust. They held their noses, probably because the smell was much stronger fro them than it was for the fire monster.

The skeleton shakily rose his head to looked up at Grillby. His eye lights were hazy and he was shaking hard, so much so that his bones were rattling. The cyan and orange magic he had puked up dripped from his mouth and chin.

Then, the skeleton’s eye lights blew out completely, and he fell over to the side, passed out.

“DINGS!” The tallest child cried, tears already forming in his eye sockets as he shook his older brother’s shoulder. “WAKE UP! WAKE UP DINGS! NO NAPPING!”

“Holy stars!” Doggo said in shock. 

**< Doggo, we need to get him to a doctor. Now! >** Lesser dog barked. He then reached his paw towards the unconscious monster, but then the small child snapped at him.

**< no! don’t touch! >** The smaller one growled, just like a dog, surprising all the adults. 

Grillby was not expecting that noise to come out of a small child, he took a few steps back from the little skeleton, _“Did he just-“_

What happened next left them all completely floor.

The smaller skeleton’s bones began to pop and shift on their own. The child fell onto his hands and feet while his bones realigned themselves to accommodate this new position, His face grew longer until it formed a long muzzle with viciously sharp teeth, and spikes started to grow along the back of his skull. His tailbone poked out of his pants and grew longer and longer until it was almost half the length of his body. 

The whole transformation only lasted a few seconds. It was so fast that the adults could hardly believe that it happened at all, and that the bony beast before them now used to be a skeleton child. The creature growled at them again and paced the floor in front of his older brother protectively. 

**< stay back. don't touch. no doctors. >**

This . . . This was surreal. A shapeshifting skeleton? Grillby had never heard of such a thing. Not many monsters had this ability, but it wasn’t uncommon either. There were a few species of monsters who were able to change their form, but most of the time they had gelatinous forms, like jelly. As far as Grillby knew, these skeletons were as solid 

It was, honestly, amazing.

Grillby looked at the Guards by his side, but they still seemed to be in the middle of their shock as they just stared at the little bone pup. So, Grillby knelt down once again.

The little pup growled menacingly at the fire monster. 

_“It’s okay kid.”_ Grillby said as gently as he could, _“We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to help.”_

He didn’t believe him and continued to growl, but then, suddenly, the taller skeleton child angrily swatted at the beast’s snout, making a loud smacking sound in the process, like a stick hitting a rock. Grillby was surprised by this sudden aggression and the beast whimpered as he looked over at his brother.

**< why did you do that?> **The pup pouted mournfully, droplets of tears forming at the edge of his large eye sockets. The hit wasn’t hard by any means, no damage was done, but children didn’t always need a reason to start crying, to be honest.

“RULE NUMBER ONE: NO SHIFTING IN FRONT OF STRANGERS!” The skeleton child scowled at his brother as held up one finger. “RULE NUMBER TWO:” He rose another finger. He now had two raised, “NO ATTACKING STRANGERS!”

**< i didn’t attack!>**

“YOU WERE ABOUT TO!”

The whole exchange would have been adorable under normal circumstances, but not right now. Not when there was a monster in dire need of medical attention passed out on the hardwood.

**< b-but, it’s an emergency!>** The little beast turned his attention away from Grillby completely in favor of trying to convince his brother, **< th-they’re going to hurt dings! th-they’re going to get doctor!>**

“NO THEY’RE NOT! THEY WANT TO HELP!” The skeleton child shouted back. He then sheepishly looked up at the elemental. His eye lights quivered slightly and his voice softened, “R-Right? You want to help?”

_“Yes,”_ Grillby nodded. The skeleton child’s eye lights sparkled with joy and relief, 

“SEE? THEY’RE NICE MONSTERS.” The child reassured his brother, but the skeleton pup still eyed Grillby with distrust.

He tentatively asked, **< you won’t hurt dings?> **He had tears streaming down his face and he was trembling slightly. He was so afraid.

Grillby assumed that “Dings” was the name of the unconscious skeleton in from of him. 

_“No, I won’t hurt him.”_ The fire monster assured the pup as he slowly reach out his hand, hoping it would be perceived as a sign of peace, _“I just want to help him get better. Will you allow me to?”_

**< why?>**

Grillby looked at the pup curiously. Did he really need a reason for wanting to help? For wanting to do the right thing? He didn’t think so, so he said so.

_“Because it is what any decent monster would do.”_

The little pup looked conflicted. His eye lights darted between Grillby, his hand, the Guard behind him, and his brothers. This went of for a minute, until the pup slowly inched towards the fire monster’s hand. Then, his bones slowly realign themselves. The same snaps and pops from before are heard again as the pup’s form changes back into the small child he was before. The small skeleton carefully reached out for Grillby’s extended hand and holds onto it tightly.

“please.” the little skeleton begged, choking back a sob, “save him. i-i don’t want him to die.”

Grillby simply nodded, smiling at the child reassuringly, then turned to face the guards behind him. _“I’m going to need some help. Can you take him upstairs for me?”_

This, finally, snapped the guards out of their daze. Greater Dog gently picked up the elder skeleton, Dings, and carried them to the back of the room.

Meanwhile, Grillby turned his attention to the small, heartbroken children in front of him. He stood up and held out both of his hands for the children to take. They hesitantly comply and follow the fire monster as he led them upstairs to his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a great day!


	3. A Drink and A Mop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've taken some time to really think about what I want from this story, and I think I've finally got it. I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

The apartment above his bar was small, but cozy, and just the right size for himself and a guest if a friend ever needed a place to stay for a while. Two bedrooms, a living room, and a decent sized kitchen. It was just enough to be comfortable.

When he stepped into the room, still holding onto the younger skeletons’ hands protectively, Grillby directed the guards to lay his new guest onto his old, musty couch. He wanted the skeleton in an area that would have easy access to him wherever he was in the apartment. 

The moment the elder brother was laid the couch, the taller child yanked his hand out of Grillby’s gentle grasped, jumped up onto the couch, and curled up on his older brother’s chest. The smaller one slipped his hand out of Grillby’s and chose to instead sit as a sentry on the floor while holding Dings’ hand that hung down from the sofa.

The flame could tell that the children were scared. It was obvious. They were both very tense and their eye lights darted all around the room anxiously. They watched all of the monsters cautiously as they clung to their unconscious brother. Grillby could even see tears rimming in their eye sockets. He wanted to comfort them, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be as helpful as he would like it to be. It was best to help Dings get better, that way they wouldn’t have anything to fear.

Grillby knelt down to inspect his new charge. He pressed the back of his hand onto Dings’ forehead, which hissed as the sweat evaporated from the flame’s natural heat. Even though he was made of fire, Grillby could tell that the skeleton was too hot for what should be natural for his species. Dings’ whimpered as his face scrunched up in pain from the fiery hot touch. The skeleton turned his head away from the fire elemental’s warm hand. At this, the taller child looked up at Grillby, his eye sockets full of worry for his older brother.

Grillby knew that had to help Dings out. But, he also knew that he did not truly know what was wrong with the boy, nor did he have the supplies to care for him even if he knew what illness he had. He needed professional help.

So, while the younger boys kept watch on their older brother, Grillby walked over towards the dogs who hovered near the exit. 

“So?” Doggo asked,

Grillby thought for a moment, _“First, we need to get someone who can help, medically speaking. Go get Dr. Castora. She often does house calls this late at night, so I’ll need one of you to fetch her for me.”_

**_<_ I can do that. I love to fetch!>** Greater Dog yipped and wagged his tail excitedly. Leave it to greater dog to be optimistic even during a time of crisis.

“But you heard the kid. He doesn’t want anything. to do with-“ Doggo stopped mid sentence, glanced over at the small boy, then whispered harshly, “D-O-C-T-O-R-S.”

_“I know, but I’ll try to convince them that Mary can help Ding’s better than I can.”_ Grillby then turned to Lesser Dog and Doggo, _“You two go down to the station and report this to Dogamy and Dogaressa. Let them know that there are three lost children. I’ll try and get as much information that I can from them and report back later. Maybe the younger ones can tell us something that can help us find their parent.”_

**< We’ll go right away.> **Lesser Dog barked. While the two other dogs left to go downstairs, Lesser Dog turned back and yipped, **< Good luck.>**

As the dogs pushed their way out the door, Grillby turned back to look at his new charges. Now that he was alone with them, it would probably be a good chance to get to know them. The flame walked over to the skeletons, noticing how the younger ones tensed as he approached, then he knelt down to their level.

_“I believe that I haven’t introduced myself yet.”_ He said with a soft smile, _“My name is Grillby. What are your names?”_

The children watched him cautiously. “MY NAME IS PAPYRUS.” the taller child said, then he pointed down at the other child clutching the arm of their older brother, “THIS IS MY BROTHER, SANS.”

Grillby nodded, _“I see, and this is Dings?”_ he asked as he put a hand on the older skeleton’s shoulder. Sans and Papyrus nodded.

_“Well, it is very nice to meet you.”_ Grillby paused before he continued, _“May I ask you two a few questions?”_

The two skeleton children looked at each other, seemingly seeking permission from each other, then they nodded. _“Great. First of all, what are your parents’ names?”_

Sans and Papyrus shared a confused glance, then looked back up at the flame, “what’s a parent?” Sans asked

Grillby’s flame flickered at the question, _“You don’t have parents? A mom? A dad?”_

The children shook their heads.

_“Who takes care of you then?”_

“DINGS DOES!” Papyrus smiled brightly and hugged his older brother, “HE’S THE BEST BIG BROTHER EVER!”

Grillby couldn’t help but smile, _“I’m sure he is.”_ he paused for a moment before he continued, _“Where do you live?”_

“forest.” Sans answered.

Grillby’s soul dropped, but he managed to keep his composure, _“H-How long have you three been living in the woods?”_

Papyrus looked over at Sans, who was looking down at his hands and counting on his fingers. He then held up two fingers and showed it to Grillby, “two days.”

Grillby nodded and rested his chin on his fist. So, that meant they were most likely out there during the snowstorm yesterday. That explained why Dings was so sick. It was a miracle that the small boys weren’t as bad as their older brother. He would have to ask Dr. Castora to examine Sans and Papyrus as well, just to make sure they didn’t have an underlying illness hidden away.

Grillby sighed. Sans had made it clear that he didn’t want any doctors to touch his brother. However, there wasn’t much he could do alone. He needed the doctor’s help, but he also needed the boys to be onboard with him.

_“Sans. Papyrus.”_ Grillby spoke slowly and carefully, _“We’re going to have someone come over to the house very soon. She’s a healer and a very nice monster. She’s coming over here to help Dings get better.”_

“WHY CAN’T YOU HEAL HIM?” Papyrus asked innocently.

_“I want to, but I’m not sure if I’m able to. If we want him to get better faster, then he’s going to need some medicine. I don’t know much about those kinds of things, but my friend does, and she can help him get better, but only if you two are okay with it.”_

The two boys looked hesitant. Then Sans spoke up, “you promise she won’t hurt him?”

_“Yes, I promise.”_ It hurt Grillby a little inside that he even had to reassure the small child of this.

The boys looked at each other then nodded. They then lifted up their hands towards Grillby with their pinky finger extended. Grillby looked at them curiously.

“A PINKY PROMISE IS A PROMISE YOU CAN NEVER BREAK.” Papyrus said, like he was quoting something he read or heard.

Grillby smiled softly as he wrapped his own pinkies around the ones of the skeleton children. This seemed to placate them for now. Papyrus curled into older brother’s chest, but this time, his bones shifted and popped into a different form. Much like Sans when sans transformed, it wasn’t five seconds later that there was a canine-shaped skeleton creature curled up on top of the unconscious monster.

Grillby wasn’t as surprised this time around, it would make sense that he would have the same powers as his brother had, but Grillby still couldn’t help but marvel at the curious abilities of these children. He decided that for the time being that it would be best to put his questions aside and focus on what was really important at the present time.

All. there was to do now was to wait for the doctor to arrive.

_“Would you like something to eat?”_ Grillby asked, remembering how savagely the two of them wolfed down their meal downstairs and how they were interrupted before they could finish. They had to be starving, especially if they had been trapped in the snowstorm all day.

**< YES PLEASE!>** Papyrus yipped, his muzzle seeped orange drool from between his teeth. Grillby let out a huff of a laugh and walked briskly into his personal kitchen to whip up something quick for the boys to eat. Luckily for him, he found a box of macaroni noodles waiting in the pantry.

As he cooked, Grillby could feel the eye lights of the skeleton children watching him as put on his elbow length rubber gloves, grabbed his saucepan, filled it up with water, and placed it on the stove to boil. He would steal a glance at them every so often, checking on both the young boys and their older brother, hoping that maybe Dings would wake up, but no such luck. 

The older skeleton still looked feverish. His breathing was shallow and sounded raspy and sore. His skull was flushed orange and blue and shined with his own sweat. Yet, despite all this, he still shivered like he was dunked into an icy river. Grillby silently hoped that Dr. Castora would arrive soon.

After a few minutes, Grillby drained the water out of the saucepan and divided the macaroni noodles into two large bowls. Then, carrying the bowls in each hand, he walked over to the skeletons and placed the bowls on the floor in front of them. 

Immediately, Papyrus dove towards the bowl the second it touched the floor and devoured the noodles in seconds. His now large eye sockets light up with delight. **< IT’S SO YUMMY!>** Papyrus yipped excitedly. His tail was a blur due to how quickly it wagged. **< WHAT IS IT?>**

_“It’s macaroni.”_ Grillby replied, a little worried that the child didn’t know about this basic food, but brushed it off as nothing important.

**< I LIKE MARONI A LOT!>** Papyrus smiled, then dove his snout back into the food.

During all of this, Sans had slowly creeped away from his older brother scooted himself closer to where the fire elemental had set the bowls. He picked out one of the noodles and tentatively tasted it. Once he got his first taste of the food, his eye lights doubled in size and he wolfed the rest of the pasta down with just as much enthusiasm as his brother.

_“Would you like seconds?”_ Grillby asked once Sans and Papyrus had licked their bowls clean. 

“we can have more?” Sans asked in surprise.

_“Of course. You can eat as much as you like.”_

Sans turned his head to look as his sick older brother.

_“Dings can eat when he wakes up.”_ Grillby reassured the child, _“There’s enough food for all of us, and more.”_

Hearing this seemed to reassure the small skeleton a little bit and a little bit of tension left his shoulders. He looked up at Grillby and nodded slightly as he held up his empty bowl. Papyrus nudged the edge of his bowl towards the fire elemental with his muzzle. **< MORE TOO, PLEASE!>**

Grillby smiled as he grabbed both bowls, stood up, and went into the kitchen to get more food. He returned with the bowls of noodles and gave them to the children, who ate it all once again. 

The bell downstair rang, indicating that someone had walked into the bar. A huge weight was lifted off of Grillby’s soul at the sound. _“That must be her.”_ the boys froze as they looked nervously at the door, _“I’m going to go downstairs and talk to her. I’ll be right back.”_

The fire elemental calmly walked over towards the stairs, checking on the boys one last time before he defended the stairs. He walked through his restaurant kitchen and into the bar, seeing the friendly face of Greater Dog and a beaver monster, who he knew well. 

_“Thank you Greater Dog. You did very well.”_ Grillby praised, causing the guard to violently wag his tail in excitement, _“You can go back to the station now. We can handle things from here.”_

**< Okay Grillby. You’ll let us know when he wakes up, right?>**

_“I promise, I will.”_ Once Greater Dog left, Grillby turned his attention fully to the short, never monster in a pink blouse and jeans, _“Thank you for coming over at such short notice, Mary.”_

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s my job.” Dr. Castora said as she shrugged off her puffy winter coat and hung it on the rack, “So, what’s the damage? G.D. told me that you had some sick skeletons.”

_“Only one actually. He threw up and passed out in the bar, so we took him up to my apartment. He hasn’t woken up yet, and his brothers are really worried about him.”_

“He has brothers?”

_“Yes, their names are Sans and Papyrus, and just so you know they are a little nervous around doctors. So, if you could maybe-“_

“Not mention I’m a doctor?” Dr. Castora finished, “Don’t worry, I understand. I’ve worked with many children who were afraid of the doctor. I’ll be careful with them. Anything else I should know?”

“Well . . .” Grillby didn’t know how to explain it, “The children have displayed some . . . unusual magic.”

Dr. Castora nodded. “How unusual?”

_“Well, they can change their shape to become skeletal . . . I don’t even know what to call it. It’s like a combination of a dragon and a dog.”_

“I thought you said they were skeletons.”

_“That’s what’s so unusual about it all.”_

“Hm.” Dr. Castora thought for a moment, “It’s possible that they may have some changling heritage somewhere in their DNA. I could get a magic sample from all of them if you’d like, just to see.”

That could be useful, and they might be able to see if they have any extended family to take them in. But . . . 

_“What kind of sample would you need.”_

“Just a simple one. I can get it just as well from their saliva if their too afraid of needles.”

Grillby sighed with relief, _“Yes, a spit sample might be best.”_ Grillby may not have known these boys very well, but if they reacted badly at just the mentioning of a doctor, then he highly doubted that they would react well to a needle.

“Well, if that’s all. Lead me to my patient Mr. Grillby.”

That’s exactly what he did. Grillby lead Dr. Castora up to his apartment and back into the room where the three skeletons laid. The two boys perked up their heads as they watched the monsters enter into the room. Sans’ grip on his brother’s arm tightened and Papyrus nuzzled closer to Dings as Grillby approached them with the new monster by his side.

_“Sans, Papyrus, I’d like you to meet Mary Castora. She’s the healer that I told you about.”_

“Hello there!” Dr. Castora smiled brightly, showing off her buck teeth, “It’s nice to meet you.”

The boys stared at the beaver monster for a few second. Just studying her. Then, Papyrus uncurled himself and jumped off his brother’s chest to walk towards the new monster. Cautiously, the skeletal canine sniffed the doctor as he circled around her. Dr. Castora didn’t dare to budge, for fear of scaring off the child. So, she stayed as still as she could, smiling brightly with amusement, while the child smelled and assessed her.

Once Papyrus had finished his sniffing, his bones once again began to shift and shrink back into his original, bipedal form. 

“YOU SMELL NICE!”

Grillby’s flame crackled, and Dr Castora giggled at the child’s strange yet kind words. Papyrus smiled widely, then he ran over to his brother and dragged him away from Dings. Sans whined and pulled away from Papyrus as he attempted to drag him towards Dr. Castora. 

“C’MON. I PROMISE SHE’S SAFE.” Papyrus reassured him, “SHE SMELLS LIKE WET WOOD! NOT SCARY AT ALL!”

Reluctantly, and dragging his feet the whole way, Sans let himself be led to the new monster. Dr. Castora slowly raised her furry hand to the small child, but Sans flinched and hid behind his taller brother. 

Dr. Castora frowned, “It’s okay kid, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Sans peeked behind Papyrus, looking at Dr. Castora up and down. Analyzing the beaver monster for any potential threats that she might pose to him. Then, slowly, Sans creeped past his brother and up to Dr. Castora. Without touching her, the small skeleton sniffed her hand. It may have been a little unorthodox, but if it helped Sans to relax around the doctor, then it was okay in Grillby’s eyes.

“are you really going to help dings?” Sans asked quietly, looking up at Dr. Castora with his enormous eye sockets.

“That’s why I’m here!” a twitch of a smile appeared on Sans’ face. Both boys grabbed ahold of Dr. Castora’s hands and pulled her to the couch where Dings lay. They then hopped onto the opposite arms of the couch and watched her with deep scrutiny. They didn’t say anything more. They just stared at her, waiting for her to move. Probably to make sure she didn’t do anything to hurt their brother.

Without another word, Dr. Castora began her examination of the Dings. She pulled out certain instruments out of her medical bag, such as a thermometer and a stethoscope, and used them for their individual purpose. Grillby saw how Sans and Papyrus tensed when Dr. Castora first started to collect her tools, but they became physically more relaxed when they saw that they weren’t dangerous.

When Dr. Castora checked Dings’ temperature, she nodded her head like she had expected the results she had gotten. She moved on the check his soul beat. The same response.

During the entire examination, Dings’ reacted to every touch of the cold instruments. He didn’t do more than wince, whine, and turn his head away, but it was clear that even in his sleep he was uncomfortable. Although, this was reassuring in some way. At least he wasn’t falling down. If he was, he wouldn’t have been responsive at all. It gave Grillby hope that Dings would recover sooner rather than later. 

The examination only took around fifteen minutes. The last thing she did was take a small Q-tip, brush it along the inside of his mouth, and then sealed it into a container with a label on it. Once Dr. Castora had written down all her notes on her notepad, she then turned her attention too the little boys. 

“Your brother is going to be just fine.” The boys sighed with relief, “He’s going to be a little sick for a while, but he’ll live. It’s nothing I haven’t seen a hundred times before.”

“THANK YOU MISS MARY!” Papyrus beamed with joy and gratitude towards the doctor.

“It’s no problem at all.” Dr. Castora winked at Sans slyly. The little skeleton tilted his head curiously at this.

But, Dr. Castora wasn’t done yet. “Can you two do one more thing for me?” She asked, and the boys nodded, “May I give you two a check-up?” The boys went stiff, but Dr. Castora recovered the conversation, “I just want to make sure that you won’t get sick well. I would hate it if you came down with a terrible cold. I promise that I won’t do anything that will make you feel uncomfortable, and if I accidentally do, I will stop immediately. Deal?”

The boys looked at each other again. They seemed to do that a lot. Seek confirmation from the other. Grillby thought that it was endearing how close the two boys were. It reminded him a lot of the relationship he had with his own brother when they were younger, way back before the war. They were still some of his favorite memories to reminisce.

“okay, but please don’t hurt.”

“I promise, I won’t.”

This seemed like enough conformation for the boys to trust her. The boys jumped down from the arms of the couch and stood in front of Dr. Castora.

“Okay, good.” Dr. Castora smiled at them in a comforting way, “First things first. Sans, can you tell me how old you are.”

Sans paused for a few seconds, his expression was tight with concentration. You could almost see the numbers flying through his head. “i’m four.”

“I’M FOUR TOO!”Papyrus’ face brightened as he shouted proudly.

“Oh? Your twins then?”

“uh huh!” Sans nodded, looking up at the doctor with his big, curious eye lights.

“Well, well. Isn’t that special.”

“DINGS SAYS THAT TOO.” Papyrus commented, excitedly. His eyes literally sparkling

“He’s right you know. Speaking of which, do you know how old your brother is?”

The twin brothers looked at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces. Did they not know how old Dings was? But then, Sans grabbed Papyrus’ hands and held them up, spreading all ten of the skeleton’s fingers. The then went to his own hands and spread out all the fingers on his left hand, and then raising his index finger on his right hand.

The boys then looked up at Dr. Castora while showing her their fingers. “he’s this many years old.” Sans said.

Grillby was quick to count the fingers the boys held out, and Dr. Castora giggled a little, “So, he’s sixteen?”

“YES! THAT’S IT!” Papyrus shouted enthusiastically, “WE COULDN’T REMEMBER WHAT THE NUMBER WAS CALLED.”

“That’s okay. Number’s can be kinda tricky sometimes.”

“UH HUH.” Papyrus pouted in agreement. Dr. Castora smiled and winked at him too, which made the skeleton giggle.

Grilby suddenly felt very concerned. The Dings was only sixteen? Sure, Grillby had assumed he was still in his teens, but he had been expecting him maybe eighteen or nineteen. But _sixteen?_ What was he doing in Snowdin nearly frozen to death and with two small boys.

He supposed that would be one of the questions he would ask him when he woke up.

“Alright, I’m going to check on a few small things like your sight, hearing, and magic pressure. It won’t hurt a bit, but it may feel a little funny. Okay?”

“OKAY!” Papyrus exclaimed.

Then Dr. Castora did a few of the same tests she had conducted on Dings. She checked their eye sockets and their ear holes, she use the stethoscope to check their soul beats. She even let the boys listen to their own souls. Their eyes went wide with amazement and they truly smiled. If made Grillby’s own soul flutter with joy.

Throughout the whole examination, Dr. Castora would take a moment to explain to the children what each tool did and what she would be doing with them. This calmed the children significantly, and even asked some questions of their own, which Dr. Castora happily answered. The boys seemed genuinely curious and excited at the doctor’s instruments and how their own bodies functioned. 

Once she had completed everything she needed, the once again took out two q-tips from her bag.

“Now, I need you to open your mouth as while as you can. Can you saw ‘ahhhhh?’”

“AHHHHH!”

“ahhhhh!”

Dr. Castora quickly collected a saliva sample from the boys, sealed them, and labeled them. Once she had completed that, she carefully put the rest of her tools back in her bag.

“And do you know the best part of a check up?” The boys shook their heads, obviously curious. Dr. Castora then reached into her bag and pulled out a large sheet of colorful stickers full of inspirational phrases, funny puns, and colorful cartoon characters on them. “All the good patients get a special prize at the end.”

The boys’ eye lights widened and sparkled like stars as they looked at the stickers with excitement. Papyrus shot his arm up high into the air. “I WAS A GOOD PATIENT!”

“me too! i was good too!” Sans chimed in, also raising his hand.

“Yes you were.” Dr. Castora agreed with a toothy smile, “Why don’t you two pick your favorite sticker. While you do that, I’m going to talk to Grillby in try kitchen. If you need anything just yell for us, okay?”

“okay.”

“OKAY!”

While the boys carefully surveyed each sticker to find their favorite one, Dr. Castora grabbed her bag and walked with Grillby into the kitchen.

_“So?”_ The fire elemental asked.

“Well,” Dr. Castora began with a heavy sigh, “Dings is suffering from hypothermia and has some symptoms of the flu along with malnutrition. Sans and Papyrus seem to be better off, but even they are a little malnourished. I’ll give you a prescription medicine for the flu and some supplements to strengthen their bones, and you should keep Dings warm at all times, his joint need to heal from the sever exposure. But, I expect him to make a full recovery. He’s just lucky he got help when he did.” Dr. Castora paused for a moment before she spoke again, “So, what are you going to do?”

_“With them?”_ Dr. Castora nodded. The fire monster sighed while he ran his fingers through his erratic flame. _“I don’t know. I’ll keep them with me until they all recover, and the Guard will search for any relatives they may have, but . . .”_

Dr. Castora hummed, “Well, if it turns out that they don’t have any relatives, you can always set them up in the foster system.”

_“Foster system?”_ Grillby echoed, _“Don’t they sometimes split up the siblings?”_

Dr. Castora’s eyes cast downwards as she nodded. She then pulled out a small pamphlet from her bag and held it out for Grillby, The cover showed several different monster prints shaped like a heart and was titled _What is Foster Care?_

“I know it may seem harsh, but it would be the best chance for these kids. They would have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies in their foster homes.” Grillby shook his head, but Dr. Castora continued, “You saw what happened to Dings out there by himself. Heck, even Sans and Papyrus were struggling, and they were pretty well protected, all things considering. The Underground is no place for homeless children to be wandering the streets. Besides, even if they do get split up, they can always visit each other whenever they want. The Underground isn’t that big of a place and it would be easy for them. If you really care about their wellbeing, I would highly suggest that you consider it.”

Grillby didn’t like this, not one bit. He had seen how close those brothers were, and how protective they were of their older brother. It was wrong to even _think_ about separating them.

Besides, he had heard stories about how broken the system was. About how the people who sign up to be foster parents are monsters who care more about the check han the child. He knew that wasn’t the case with all foster homes, but still

However, he could see where Dr. Castora was coming from. Dings was only sixteen. He shouldn’t be living in the cold, snowy forest. Struggling to survive and raise his brothers. They should all be safe and warm in a loving home. They should get to go to school, make friends, and be actual kids. It wasn’t fair for the young boys.

They needed someone to look after them.

Grillby paused at the though, _“What if . . . What if I took care of them?”_

Dr. Castora gave the elemental a sad look, “I mean, you could but . . . Grillby, you don’t have to. They’re not your responsibility. You don’t owe them anything.” 

Grillby looked away from the beaver monster. She kept talking. “Listen, you know nothing about these kids, you don’t know what they’ve been through, and you know just as well as I do that these are not normal kids. I’m sorry to play devil’s advocate, but it may be better for the kids and you if they were put into a system that knows how to help them.” 

_“I can’t just . . . abandon them Mary.”_

Dr. Castora sighed, “Well . . . this is your decision, and all I can give you is advice. You know what you can handle more than I do. I only ask that you really consider your options before you make a rash decision.”

Dr. Castora once again extended the pamphlet for Grillby to grab. The bartender looked at it with mild disgust. However, mostly to be polite, he took the pamphlet from the doctor’s paws.

_“Thank you for your help, Dr. Castora. I will sleep on it.”_

“You’re welcome.” Dr. Castora gave the fire elemental a pat on the back, “Well, I better be heading out now. But, I do need to get those stickers back from those kids’ sticky fingers.”

Grillby chuckled, _“Yes, because nothing is more important to the medical profession that a sheet of stickers.”_ he said sarcastically.

“Don’t underestimate them. They are my secret weapon when dealing with young children.” 

When they walked back into the living room again, they were met with a adorably hilarious surprise. When Grillby and Dr. Castora walked back into the small room, they saw that the boys had decorated Ding’s skull with several sparkly star stickers. They shined in the electric lighting and made the older skeleton’s head gleam with a different material other than his sweat.

Grillby’s smile wider as he looked at the small boys.

Sans and Papyrus had also chosen their own stickers. Sans’ was a sun wearing sunglasses and Papyrus’ was a snazzy sports car, and they had stuck them right in the middle of their foreheads.

This had to be the cutest thing Grillby had seen in a long, long time.

“dings was a good patient too.” Sans explained bashfully.

“YES, HE’S GREATEST PATIENT IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! HE DESERVES TEN STICKERS!” Papyrus said as he stuck another shiny star on Dings’ forehead.

Dr. Castora laughed, unable to hide her amusement nor wanting to, “Yes, that’s right.” She gently took the sticker sheet from the boys and packed it into her bag. “I have to go now, but I’ll be back tomorrow to drop off your brother’s medicine. It was very nice to meet you two.”

“YOU TOO!” Papyrus beamed, “BYE MISS MARY!”

The two boys waved at the doctor as she stepped down the stairs, and they listened for the bell that meant she had truly left.

“I LIKE HER. SHE’S NICE.”

“uh huh.”

Then, Sans and Papyrus let out a big yawn and rubbed their eyes. 

_“Are you two tired?”_ Grillby asked. His only reply was a shrug from both of them, but that was enough for Grillby to know that it was time to get the two of them in bed. 

_“Would you like to sleep with your brother or in the spare bedroom.”_

“with dings.” Sans replied almost defensively, not even needing to look at Papyrus for confirmation.

After getting his answer, Grillby went to his closet and grabbed one of the thickest, fluffiest blankets that he owned. He draped the first blanket over Dings, and waited for Sans and Papyrus to curl up on top of him in a pile of bones.

That was when they both shifted into their canine forms yet again. Grillby stared at them in intrigue for a while, studying the details of their stretched skulls and vicious spikes, before he realized that they were waiting for him to cover them up with the other blanket. He did so.

_“If you need anything, just call for me. I’ll see you in the morning.”_

Just as he was walking back down to his bar to clean up and close for the night, he heard a feint, tired trill. **< good night, grillby.>**

. . . 

Grillby couldn’t split these kids up. He just couldn’t. He shoved the pamphlet Dr. Castora had given him into the junk drawer near the front door then stepped into the darkness, lighting up the stairway with his own natural light. He would find a way to care for these boys if it was the last thing he ever did.

He just hoped that when Dings woke up, he would be in a more agreeable mood.

——————————-

Everything was in shambles, thousands of gold worth in technology destroyed, and the experiments were gone.

Their form shuddered in anger as they tried to remain stable, but their stress wasn’t doing them any favors.

So much lost, and all because they had made a miscalculation.

They curse the infrastructure of the lab. It would have held in the earthquake if they had only kept up on repairs. They only had themselves to blame, and they new it.

Years of research nearly for naught, and all because the ceiling fell down on the only things in the Underground that would have been the difference between salvation and destruction.

They kicked at the rubble on the once pristine white floor, that was now cracked and grey with the concrete dust, causing the stone to echo through the hall ominously.

The only silver lining in all of this was that there was no indication of monster dust in the containment room. The experiments had escaped with their lives, and were hopefully still alive somewhere.

There was still hope.

There was still a future for monster kind. 

But first, they had to repair everything. There was no point in recapturing the experiments if they would just escape again due to a faulty containment room. They had to either rebuild or relocate. Their machines would take a while to fix, and they knew that by the time of their completion the experiments would have doubtlessly come into contact with other monsters. Maybe even reported about their time with them.

Oh well, it’s not like the authorities could ever catch them anyway. They were just too slippery that way. They might as well let the experiments have their false sense of freedom for a little while before they took them back.

After all, it’s not like anybody would care if they just disappeared into thin air. It wouldn't have been any different than the last time.

Nobody would come for them, because there was nobody in the whole Underground that would care enough to look for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how often I will update this one, but I do want to continue exploring the story.  
> Anyway, have a great day and stay safe!


	4. Morning Headaches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, Wingdings finally wakes up.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter!

Wingdings woke up, and he couldn’t stop shivering.

His bones clattered together softly as his body shook from an unescapable chill in his marrow. Yet he was sweating bullets like he was sitting in the middle of Hotland. How was it possible that he was both boiling hot and freezing cold at the same time? Wingdings didn’t know.

That’s when the headache set in. It was a throbbing pain that enveloped his entire skull. It was like someone had knocked him unconscious and then pounded an ice pick through his eye socket. It hurt so much it made him nauseous. He rolled over to his side, groaning loudly as he tried to focus on not getting sick on himself.

He knew he was sick. He had been ever since the blizzard hit out of nowhere. He managed to protect his brothers from the cold by bundling them up in every blanket he could find, then curling himself over them. The freezing storm plus the fact that he hadn’t eaten in over three days would explain why he felt so weak. But he couldn’t let his brothers know he wasn’t well. They would just get upset and scared, and he didn’t want them to feel that way. They needed to feel like they were safe. 

They needed to believe that he had everything under control.

Something warm pressed up against Wingdings’ forehead. He winced and tried to push it away, but the warmth just came back again. Tentatively, Wingdings cracked his good eye open just a sliver. Just to get a clue as to what was making him so uncomfortable. 

The first thing that he sees is a blurry light. It was bright, but not in a way that made his headache worse. It was inviting, gentle, and calm. 

_“Well now. Welcome back to the world of the living.”_ Something spoke softly, amusement rang in its voice.

Wingdings looked up to face the strange voice he heard. After a few seconds of blinking, his vision cleared up enough for him to see . . .

Another monster.

Fear jolted through Wingding’s bones, shocking him back to lucidness. He shot up, his eyes flaring as he prepared a magical attack, but something went wrong. Instead of effortlessly flowing through him like it usually did, his magic fought against him. His stomach lurched, and he could feel something rising up his throat. Wingdings covered his mouth with his hands.

Something was pushed up against his chest and he hunched over it, spewing spoiled magic into the metal container in his lap. He hugged the trash can close as his insides heaved up foul smelling magic. He gagged at the odor, which only made him vomit more. The same warm hand he had felt on his forehead was now on his shoulders, holding him steady as he expelled more and more magic. But now that Wingdings knew of the source of this warmth, it wasn’t as reassuring as it could have been.

When he was finally able to catch a break from the vicious cycle, he scowled at the monster, getting a better look at them as they took the trashcan away from him.

The monster was definitely a fire elemental, that much was obvious. The orange and yellow flames that made up his head flickered as the monster looked down at him. His attire was formal, but not too fancy. He wore a clean white shirt, a pair of pinstripe dress pants with a black vets, and a neat maroon bowtie. Simple, clean, and professional.

He looked familiar, but it took him a few seconds longer to remember that he was the bartender from last night. Unfortunately, most of that time was a big blur. He looked around the room, realizing that he was no longer in the wintery forest, but in a small apartment, and he was no longer asleep in the snow with his brothers, he was sitting on an old couch.

Wingdings chocked on a gasp.

His brothers!

His head swiveled in search for the young skeletons. 

Where are they!?

Wingdings glared at the fire monster again. His eye light flickered weakly as he tried to be intimidating to the adult. But the fire monster didn’t even flinch.

Wingding’s voice was raw and hoarse, but he still managed to speak, “Where’s-”

“DINGS! YOU’RE AWAKE!”

A blur of white force came crashing onto Wingdings’ chest, almost setting off another round of puking as it squeezing him tight with the strength of a boss monster. 

“Papyrus?” Wingdings sat up to see the young skeleton hugging him. Wingdings returned the gesture with just as much gusto, even if it wasn’t as strong. “Oh, thank the stars you’re okay! Where’s Sans?” 

Wingdings heard sniffling and turned his head. There stood his other brother, staring at him with his big, blue, wet eye sockets. Wingdings swung an arm around the little skeleton, prompting him to climb up and join the group hug. However, Sans still cried as he held his older brother with a death grip and buried his face in his chest. 

“Hey now, what’s the matter.” Windings asked as he pet Sans affectionately on the head.

“YOU LIED!” Papyrus said as he swatted the top of Wingdings’ head, tears running down his cheekbones, “YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN’T GET SICK ANYMORE, AND YOU LIED! YOU LIED TO US DINGS!”

Wingdings shivered as he suddenly felt a lot colder, “Oh sh- shoot. What happened”

“you clapsed,” Sans whined, the sound muffled agains Wingding’s chest, “and you wouldn’t wake up.”

“YOU SCARED SANS REALLY BAD!”

“what?!” Sans’s head shot up and his face bore a look of utter betrayal, “i wasn’t scared.”

“YES YOU WERE! YOU GROWLED!” Papyrus said, turning to Wingdings to add, “HE SHIFTED TOO.”

“no, stop! tattletale!” the little skeleton growled angrily, 

Sans tried to cover Papyrus’ mouth to stop him from talking, but Papyrus swatted his hands away, leading the boys to a small play fight between themselves. Wingdings couldn’t help but chuckle, but immediately regretted when a cough tore through his sore throat. 

His brothers whimpered, tears welling up in their eye sockets.

“Hey! No! Look! I’m okay now! Seriously, I’m fine.” Wingdings stumbled over his words with a, trying to reassure his brothers.

“no you’re not!” Sans shouted, surprising Wingdings. His littlest brother was usually so quiet and shy. He never spoke up like this, “you’re not okay! you’re sick, and you lied to us. y-you said you wouldn’t be hurt a-a-anymore.” Sans sniffled loudly.

Wingdings pulled Sans into a strong, comforting hug. He looked over to Papyrus, who looked just as distraught as his twin, then lifted an arm to him. Papyrus practically fell into the older brother’s hold and sobbed quietly in his chest.

Wingdings felt like trash for making his brothers cry.

“I’m sorry.” he apologized, “I shouldn’t have made a promise I couldn’t keep. Will you forgive me?”

The boys turned their heads to face their twin. A moment passed before they look up at Wingdings again.

“OKAY, BUT NO MORE LYING.”

Wingdings smiled and sighed with relief, “Okay, and I promise you I’ll try to be better at keeping my word for now on.”

“pinky promise?” Sans asked as he held out his pinky. Wingdings smiled as he gently wrapped his own pinky finger around his little brothers.

“I pinky promise.”

Wingdings flinched when something touched his shoulder, which resulted in another fit of coughs. He grabbed the blanket (apparently he had been under a blanket the entire time???) and used it to try and muffle the sound. 

_“It’s okay kid. I just got you something to eat. No need to be so jumpy.”_

Wingdings looked up at the fire elemental to see that he was picking up a bed tray from the coffee table. On top of it, there was a small cup filled with a syrupy green liquid, an assortment of yellow pills, a bowl of what looked to be chicken soup, a package of saltine crackers, and a cup of water. Sans and Papyrus moved off their older brother’s lap so that the fire monster could place the food in front of him.

Wingdings glowered at the flame with distrust. The monster just smirked, _“Don’t give me that look, I didn’t poison it and the medicine will help you feel much better.”_

“Then why don’t you take it first.” Wingdings scoffed in his raspy voice.

_“Would you like me to?”_ The fire monster asked, surprising Wingdings

The older skeleton gave him a confused look, and before he could say anything else, the fire monster swiped the cup of green medicine and downed it all in one gulp. He didn’t even cringe or anything, which Wingdings found mildly impressive. _“It will make you drowsy, but it will also lessen your symptoms. Besides, I think you can afford a little more rest, don’t you?”_

Wingding’s watched as the fire monster refilled the cup from a large bottle of the same medicine and place it back on the tray. Wingdings took a deep breath. It was obviously just common household medicine. The worst it would do to him would leave a bad taste in his mouth. He was okay.

He hoped.

Bracing himself beforehand, Wingdings gulped down the whole cup, only gagging a little at the bitter taste in his mouth. He coughed once the disgusting medicine was swallowed entirely. He then felt something cold being pressed against his hand, and he saw Papyrus pushing the glass of water towards him.

“Thanks Papy.” he said painfully as he picked up the pills only for them to fall through the hole in his hand.

Wingdings groaned. Sometimes, he really missed having palms.

He picked up the pills, individually this time, and popped them into his mouth one by one. He didn’t feel any better, but he also didn’t feel any worse either. So, he considered it a win.

The next thing he looked at was the food. It looked really good, but eating anything at the moment made Wingdings feel like vomiting again. So, he opened up the package of crackers, picked out two, and then offered them to his little brothers. But, to his surprise, they rejected the food.

“no. it’s your turn to eat”

Wingdings sighed, “Sans I’m-”

“NO!” Papyrus exclaimed, “YOUR HUNGRY AND YOU NEED TO EAT. WE’RE NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU’VE EATEN EVERY LAST BIT OF FOOD.”

Using his own tactics against him. Well played little brother. 

But, he supposed that his brothers did have a point. The sooner his strength returned, the sooner they could leave. And the sooner they leaved, the sooner he could get to work. 

So, he pushed down his nausea as best as he could and took a small nibble of the cracker, and then a bigger bite. Every so often he would dip the crackers into the broth for some flavor, but he didn’t think he could handle any more than that. His nonexistent stomach churned at the sustenance he was giving it.

Although, he had to admit, it was nice to finally have something in his nonexistent stomach. Even though he still felt weak and his hands shook when he held the crackers, he was starting to feel a little less magic-depleted.

Sans and Papyrus stared at him as he ate, probably making sure he didn’t try and hide any food. After a few more broth-soaked crackers, Wingdings felt full, but he had only eaten two-thirds of the packaged crackers and had barely touched the soup. Clearly not enough for someone who had just gone days without any food, but Wingdings just couldn’t make himself stomach anymore without it all coming back up again. Yet his still brothers watched him, wanting him to continue.

Surprisingly, The fire elemental was the one to save him, _“I think that’s enough for now, don’t you think?”_

“but he’s not done yet” Sans complained, “he needs to eat all of his food so he can be healthy and strong”

_“Yes that’s true, but I was hoping to be able to talk with your brother alone for a little while.”_ The fire monster then pointed at something beyond what Wingdings could see, _“Why don’t you go into the spare bedroom while Dings and I have a chat. There are a few toys in there you can play with.”_

The boys lit up at the mention of toys.“THANK YOU GRILLBY!” Papyrus shouted excitedly before turning back to Wingdings, wagging his finger at him, “BE GOOD WHILE WE’RE GONE.” Then he grabbed ahold of Sans’ wrist, slid off the couch, and dragged his brother out of Wingding’s sight into what he assumed was the spare bedroom mentioned before.

So the fire monster’s name was Grillby. It was a strange one, but Wingdings wasn’t really in any position to judge. Once Sans and Papyrus disappeared into the other room, the flame, Grillby, turned his attention fully to the older skeleton. _“So, now that you know my name, would you like to tell me yours?”_

Wingdings stayed silent, glancing down at the intricate diamond patterns of the blanket covering him.

_“C’mon kid. I know your name isn’t really Dings. It’s the least you could do.”_

Honestly, Wingdings didn’t think this monster deserved to know his name. He didn’t own him anything. So what if he took him in when he fell unconscious. So what if he managed to comfort his little brothers, and feed them, and give them a warm place to sleep for the night . . .

. . .

“It’s Wingdings” he relented with a frown.

_“Ah yes, that makes more sense. Do you have a last name to go with that?”_

“Yes.”

. . .

_“I’m guessing that you are not going to tell me, are you?”_

“You guessed correctly.”

Grillby smirked at the skeleton’s reply, then sat himself down on the coffee table behind him, making him more at level with the Wingdings

“What are you doing?” Wingdings asked after a few moments of silence.

_“Helping you get better. What does it seem like I’m doing?”_

“No, I mean . . . what is it that you want from me?” 

_“I don’t want anything from you.”_

“That’s bull. Everyone wants something.”

_“Hm.”_ Grillby put his hand under his chin, _“Well, I suppose I would like to know how a couple of kids like you managed to find yourselves in the woods during a blizzard.”_

Wingdings stared at Grillby in a way he hoped looked threatening. “Why do you care?”

_“You probably already noticed this, but your brothers are quite endearing.”_ Grillby glanced over to the other bedroom, where Wingdings could still hear his brothers playing together. The fire monster had a soft smile on his face, _“I just want to make sure that the three of you will be safe when you leave.”_

Wingdings didn’t miss how Grillby said _when_ instead of _if_ , so at least he knew that he wasn’t being held against his will again. This fact alone offered him some comfort.

However, it wasn’t enough for him to completely trust this stranger yet.

“None of your buisness.” the skeleton shot back viciously.

_“Maybe.”_ Grillby admitted _“But I can’t help but be a little worried for you all, especially after learning where you came from.”_

Wingdings felt his soul skip a beat. Just how much did his brother’s share with this stranger!?

_“Relax kid,”_ Grillby said, noticing how Wingdings stiffened before, _“They didn’t say much, just that you’ve been living in the forest for a while now, and that you don’t have anyone looking out for you.”_

Wingdings released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, then immediately went back to being defensive. “I can manage myself just fine,” he grumbled, “and my brothers have me to look after them.”

_“And how do you plan on doing that? Or will the woods be your permanent place of residence?”_ Grillby asked in a way that sounded like genuine curiosity and concern. However, Wingdings was too angry to notice this.

“No!” the skeleton shouted, hurting his sore throat in the process. “I’m going to get a job.”

_“How? There are not many businesses in this town, and you managed to scare off the only shopkeeper here.”_

Wingdings looked at him curiously, not knowing what he was talking about. It must have been something he done last night. Just how badly did he mess up?

“It doesn’t matter.” He quickly brushed off Grillby’s words, “I heard the mines are always looking for new workers.” he said it as if it was a common conversation topic.

But Grillby knew the true weight of his words.

_“The mines?!”_ The flame exclaimed suddenly, making Wingdings jump at the sudden urgency of Grillby’s tone. The fire elemental’s eyes were wide with shocked surprise and . . . what looked to be concern, _“Please tell me you don’t mean the coal mines.”_

Wingdings nodded, giving Grillby a strange and cautious look. _“Wingdings, the coal mines are no place for someone your age. It’s a very dangerous business. Do you have any idea what goes on down there, or how may monsters have lost their lives working in those tunnels? If the falling rocks don’t kill you, then the coal dust certainly will. How would your brothers feel if one day you left for work and never came back.”_

“Leave my brothers out of this!” Wingdings growled, his eye lights sparking up again. But once again, this just lead to another round of painful, wet coughs. He felt Grillby try to place his hand on his shoulder again, but Wingdings swatted him away.

Grillby sighed, _“I cannot. They are just as much affected by this as you are.”_

Once he had gotten his coughs under control. Wingdings chose to look down at his hands rather than look Grillby in the eyes. He hated to admit it, but the flame was right. He didn’t want to go down in the caves where it was dark, cramp, and suffocating. It was too much like before, and he didn’t want to have his brothers worry about his safety like they did back then too.

But . . .

“I don’t have a choice.” Wingdings murmured to himself, but Grillby still heard him.

_“Maybe you do.”_

Wingdings looked up at the monster again, curious and skeptical, _“I have a proposition for you.”_ Grillby said, _“I’ve been understaffed for quite a while know, and I’ve been looking for a new waiter to help me with cleaning and serving around the bar. I’d even offer you the spare room and free food for your services.”_

Wingdings glared at Grillby, “So, you want my indentured servitude.”

_“No, I would pay you.”_ Grillby reassured him, _“Granted, it would be less than minimum wage, but you would still have a roof over your head, a guaranteed meal, and some money for basic necessities.”_

Wingdings stared at Grillby in his disbelief. 

“Why?” 

_“Hm?”_

“Why are you trying to help me?” Wingdings glowered at the monster, distrustfully, “You don’t know anything about me, about where I’m from or what I’ve done, and yet your offering . . . so much. Why?”

Grillby huffed with amusement, _“Well, now I know where Sans gets it from.”_ he mumbled to himself.

Wingdings rose a bone-brow, but Grillby kept talking. 

_“Listen, I’m offering this job because I believe that you and your brothers deserve a lot more than what you’ve been given. Like a good home and food to eat, and I want to give you one. You don’t have to like me, I’m just asking you to trust me. If not for your sake, then for the sake of your brothers. Because whether you believe it or not, you are safe here.”_

Wingdings didn’t reply, he didn’t even look the monster in the eye. He gripped his forearms tightly, most likely trying to stop his shaking.

Grillby sighed, then stood up, _“Either way, I would advise that you stay here until you are completely better, but I won’t stop you if you decide to leave sooner than that. There is an inn nearby and I know the woman who owns the place. If you mention me she might let you stay for a few nights free of charge. Sound good?”_

No response.

_“I have to get back to work now.”_ Grillby said as he started walking. towards a door at the end of the room, _“Just . . . think about my offer, okay. It’s not much, but it’s the least I can do to help you all out.”_

“. . . I’ll have to talk it over with Sans and Papyrus first.”

_“Of course,”_ Grillby said with a soft smile,

And just like that, the monster left, closing the door behind him with a quiet click.

Wingdings fell back down on his pillow with a thump, bringing a hand up to his pounding head and sighed.

How in the Underground had he just woken un and somehow acquired a job?

This was completely nuts!

I mean, that’s what he was looking for, right? That was the whole reason he came to Snowdin of all places, right? He should feel excited, right?

But it all sounded just too good to be true. Wingdings knew that he wasn’t this lucky and couldn’t bring himself to believe it. There had to be some catch or alternative motive that the fire monster was hiding from him. Adults always had ulterior motives, after all. His own experiences taught him that.

However, he couldn’t deny the true benefits he was presented here. His brothers would finally be safe. Safe from starvation and the harsh cruel world.

Of course, the logical choice was to stay here and work for Grillby. 

But on the other hand, was he really willing to put his wellbeing and the wellbeing of his brothers into the hands of a monster he just met? He had been forced to do that for his entire life, and it never turned out well for him. What made this time any different?

Wingdings groaned loudly and pressed his hands against his forehead. All this thinking had made his headache even worse.

_“_ dings?”

Wingdings turned his head slightly to the side and saw Sans and Papyrus standing in front of him again. In their arms, they held a couple of old toys. 

“Hey little buddies.” He quickly put on a smile and patted a hand on his chest. The small boys scaled the couch to sit on top of their brother. “How was playtime?”

“IT WAS SO FUN! GRILLBY DIDN’T HAVE ANY PUZZLES, BUT THERE WERE A LOT OF COOL TOYS! SEE? WHAT’S THIS CALLED?” Papyrus asked as he held out said toy for him to inspect.

“That’s called a steam locomotive.”

The little skeleton’s face scrunched up in confusion,“LOLOMOTIV?”

Wingdings tried again, “It’s a train engine.”

“OH! TRAIN!” Papyrus’ face brightened as he made the engine fly through the air.

Wingdings smiled, then looked at the toy Sans was currently hugging. Wingdings gently poked the stuffed animal’s stomach, “And this is called a teddy bear.”

“teddy bear.” Sans echoed as he pet the bear’s soft, artificial fur. “it feels nice.”

“It does, doesn’t it.” Wingdings said wistfully as his thoughts drifted away again.

After a long moment, Wingdings sighed in resignation.

“Sans. Papyrus. Do you . . . like it here?”

The two boys nodded simultaneously, not looking up from their toys

“What do like about this place?”

Papyrus thought for a moment, “IT’S NICE HERE. IT’S WARM, THERE’S A LOT OF FOOD, THERE’S FUN TOYS TO PLAY WITH AND FLUFFY BLANKETS TO SLEEP UNDER. GRILLBY’S NICE, HE FEEDS US, HE PLAYS WITH US, HE TREATS US NICELY, HE’S NOT SCARED OF US, HE’S NICE-”

“You’ve said that twice.”

Papyrus looked up from his toy to pout, “BECAUSE HE’S DOUBLE NICE AND I LIKE HIM!”

Wingding smiled, even though everything Papyrus listed off made his soul clench in sorrow. He wished he could provide those things for his brothers himself.

“Well, what if I told you that we could stay here a little longer.”

“REALLY?” Papyrus face lit up with his bight smile and sparkling eye lights.

“Yes!” Wingdings forced himself to smile back, “Grillby asked me if I wanted to work at his restaurant. He said that if I did, we could live up here with him.”

“how long?” Sans asked quietly, his eye light were wide and hopeful.

“For as long as we want.” Wingdings replied. “But, I wanted to ask you two first before I make any big decisions. So, would you like to stay here?”

“YES! YES! YES!” Papyrus said immediately, bouncing up and down, “I LIKE GRILLBY! HE’S NICE AND MAKES GOOD FOOD!”

“That’s a triple yes for Papyrus.” Wingdings smiled as he petted Papyrus’ head. He then turned to Sans. “What’s your opinion on the matter.

Sans was hesitant at first. He looked over at Papyrus for an answer, but then Wingdings said, “Sans, look at me. I know what Papyrus wants, and I want to know what _you_ want.”

Sans did as he was told and faced his brother, even through he looked down at his hands he was wringing. His face was very thoughtful, like it usually was when he was trying to solve a math equation in his head. Wingdings loved it when he bore that expression.

“i-i-” Sans started out shyly, “i-i think grillby is nice too. h-he helped us when you got sick. he got a healer who helped you get better. i think he’s a good monster.”

Sans looked up, “i want to stay too.”

Wingdings sighed, slightly in defeat, “Well, then I guess there’s nothing else we can do.”

“DOES THAT MEAN WE CAN LIVE HERE NOW!?”

“Just until we can find better arrangements. This isn’t a permanent situation, understand?”

“OKAY!” Papyrus said happily, although Wingdings wasn’t sure if he understood or how. But, he was suddenly too tired to care. It was probably the medication finally kicking in. He brushed his hand over his sleep-heavy eyes.

“are you getting sleepy?” Sans asked.

“Just a little bit.” Wingdings said with a yawn. “But I can still play if you want.”

Not saying anything, Sans and Papyrus jumped off their brother and grabbed another blanket that had been hiding on the floor. They pulled the two corners up and over Wingding’s body and tried their best to cover every visible inch of Wingdings form. Only his head was visible in the sea of blankets. Then, Sans placed the teddy bear he was holding right next to his older brother’s skull.

“You can take a nap now. We won’t be mad.” Papyrus managed to whisper as he pet his brother’s head.

Wingdings let out a huff of a laugh, “Thanks bros. I love you.”

“love you more.”

“LOVE YOU TO THE SURFACE AND BACK!”

As Wingdings closed his eyes, he could feel his brothers climb up and cuddle close on top of him. The light pressure felt nice, like a weighted blanket, and it made it easier for him to start drifting away into his thoughts.

Even if he didn’t completely trust this new monster yet, it would be foolish and selfish of him to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially with his brothers involved. Grillby had offered them a home, and while he highly doubted the flame’s intentions, he could at least use his supposed generosity for as long as he was able to. He knew he’d be able to protect Sans and Papyrus in case Grillby decided to turn on them.

He and his brothers would be staying here for a while then.

He’d tell Grillby tomorrow, just to let the flame think he hadn’t come to this conclusion on a whim. This was too good of an offer to pass up. Sans and Papyrus would be safe, and he would have a steady, paying job. And if things went south, he could always go back to his original plan.

He could make this work.

Besides, how hard could it be to be a waiter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Famous last words.
> 
> Keep in mind that this entire time Wingdings still has the shiny star stickers on his skull and doesn't know about it. XD
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day!


	5. First Day on The Job (It Could Have Gone Better)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got this chapter done. It was a lot harder to write than I thought. I hope you enjoy it!

“I look like a clown.” Wingdings complained as he looked at his reflection in the display glass, fumbling with his bow tie in his attempt to tie it himself. Grillby couldn’t help but smile.

It had been a week since the skeleton’s entered the bar, and in that time, Grillby had taken no shortcuts in the wellbeing of the boys. 

Even though Wingdings was asleep most of the time thanks to the side effects of the cold medicine, the moments he was awake were spent with his little brothers. Sans and Papyrus were also very helpful in taking care of their brother, in their own ways. Despite Grillby's warning the boys not to get to close to their sick brother, they would often sit with Wingdings on the couch, showing him all the cool new toys Grillby had bought for them. They also helped by carrying his food and water and always made sure that he was taking his medicine. Then when Grillby had finally put together the spare bedroom, with a bunkbed and a twin sized bed all crammed into the one room so they could share, they chose to sleep with their brother to “protect him” at night.

To everyone’s delight, Wingdings condition improved with each new day. By the end of the week his temperature was down to normal, his coughing no longer sounded like he was hacking up a lung anymore, he did not shiver and rattle from a nonexistent cold, and he was able to eat entire meal without any hint of nausea. Despite these clear improvements, Grillby still made sure that the young skeleton was one hundred percent better before he threw him into his new job.

And today was finally that day. 

Ten minutes before they opened for lunch, and the two monsters stood behind the bar counter. The tables were wiped down, the dishes were all washed, and the counter was thoroughly disinfected. Everything was ready for the lunch rush that was expected to come. The only thing standing in their way was Wingdings and his minor wardrobe malfunction.

For a while, Grillby watched as his new employee struggled to tie the bow tie for his uniform. The clothes the young skeleton wore were very similar to his own attire, with the clean shirt, vest, and all the formal trimmings. Grillby strongly believed that the employees’ attire sets an example for the values of the restaurant. Therefore, he required that his employees dress with some class in his establishment.

Finally, after he had his fill of amusement, Grilllby asked with a smirk, _“Do you need any help?”_

“No.” Wingdings grumbled irritably. His fingers ended up getting stuck in the knot he had created. Wingdings scowled as he let out a heavy sigh, “Fine.”

The young skeleton reluctantly let go of the stubborn fabric and allowed Grillby to tie it for him. Although, there was still a sour look on his face.

The first thing Grillby did was untie the knot Wingdings had managed to make. He then carefully folded the fabric over and under itself until it created a neat little bow. As he did this, Wingdings watched him carefully, most likely trying to learn for the next time so he wouldn’t have to ask for help again.

“ _Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to tie a tie?”_ Grillby asked as he tightened the knot he had made.

Wingding’s gaze slipped down to the floor, “No one took the time to.”

For a moment, Grillby looked up at the young skeleton sadly, but then turned his focus back on the tie. Once he finished, Wingdings muttered a low “Thank you.” then walked over to the corner of the bar where his little brothers sat.

Grillby had suggested that Sans and Papyrus stay upstairs while they work, but Wingdings rejected that idea, stating that he would rather have his brothers within in his visual range while he worked. So, they dedicated a small corner for the little boys just for them. In the corner near the jukebox stood a small, green pop up tent that Grillby had held onto for his niece years ago. The tent was surrounded by small orange traffic cones, yellow tape, and a sign that said ‘Do Not Disturb’ taped onto front of the tent. Sans and Papyrus sat inside with a plethora of jigsaw puzzles, crayons and paper, stuffed animals, crackers and cheese, and two large water bottles with plastic straws.

Wingdings knelt down in front of the tent so that he could be at eye level with his brothers. “Do you have everything you need?”

“uh huh.” Sans and Papyrus nodded happily.

“Good. Now there will be a lot of people here soon. The same rules apply here as they did outside. Don’t shift in front of anyone, don’t attack anyone, don’t talk to anyone, don’t look at anyone, and if anyone tries to touch you just yell and I’ll protect you. Okay?”

“OKAY DINGS!” 

“In fact, call for me if anyone tried to talk to you. Okay?”

“okay dings.”

“I’ll still be in the room so you don’t have to be afraid. You’re safe here. Okay?”

_“Okay Dings. Are you done?”_ Grillby smile, patiently.

“Yeah . . .” Wingdings paused for a moment, he bore an uneasy expression on his face, looked back at his brothers, then pulled down the flaps of the tent, effectively hiding them. “Yeah, I’m done.”

Grillby could still see that Wingdings was nervous, _“Hey, don’t worry. You’re going to do great, and I’ll help you along the way.”_

“ . . . Whatever.”

Grillby paused, then tossed Wingdings a key. _“You can unlock the door. Then our workday can really begin.”_

_——————————————-_

At around eleven o’clock, many coal miners trickled into the bar for their lunch break. While he cooked food, Grillby also taught Wingdings how to take orders, balance trays on two hands, properly sanitize tables for the next customers, and generally how to be a good waiter.

Wingdings learned quickly, much to Grillby’s delight. Without asking any questions, he picked up his duties with ease and took them seriously, almost too seriously. He was quick to get a job done, but he seemed almost robotic while he completed each task. Grillby brushed it off as nothing. Even he sometimes zone out while he worked.

Every free second Wingdings had was spent checking up on his brothers. Making sure they had enough water, snacks, etc. Basically making sure they were still alive. It was admirable, but Grillby wished the young skeleton would not worry too much. No good ever came from worrying too much.

About an hour into the work day was when some of Grillby’s younger patrons began to trickle into the establishment. They were students from the high school nearby. They came in during their lunch break too. Although, the students were often more rowdy than the miners of the town, but Grillby still enjoyed their company. It gave his old establishment a little bit more life again.

But, like all things, it did have it’s disadvantages.

“Sup my favorite losers!” The Snowdrake barked out as he slammed the door open loudly, making sure he and his group were seen and heard.

The bar did not respond back, but the young Snowdrake did not let this deter him. As he sauntered in, he was accompanied by a gang of teenagers. There was a Snowcap, a deer-like creature in a purple sweater, a small rabbit monster wearing a large blue bow, and a young bear monster. They walked in like they owned the place and took a seat at a nearby booth. 

Grillby turned to Wingdings, who was currently cleaning a glass. _“You think you can take care of this group?”_ the flame asked.

Wingdings sighed, he never liked teenagers. They were always so entitled and rude. Sadly, it was still his job to serve them. “Fine.” the skeleton mumbled as he placed the glass into one of the cabinets. He started to walk over to small group, but then the door opened again. 

Walking into the small establishment was light blue monster with white hair that was dyed black at the ends. Small horns peeked up from her hair that were still sharp like needles. She wore a lot of heavy make up around her eyes that highlighted her sky blue irises. Her attire was sharp, in the sense that there were a lot of spikes sewn onto the thick leather straps of her tank top and belt of her black jeans. She looked very ticked off and intimidating.

The young skeleton’s soul pounded in his ribcage and his hands shook from the sudden surge of adrenaline coursing through his bones. Wingdings recognized his body’s physical response, but it only ever occurred when he was in an encounter with . . . Them. 

Wingdings felt his nausea coming back again, but he took a deep breath through his nose .and out through his mouth . . No, they were not here. He and his brothers were safe. _We are safe here_ , he reminded himself silently.

But the question still remained as to why his body would react in a fight or flight response towards a stranger that has so far shown no threat. Was it possible that her edgy attire could have set of his stress response and made him more alert to danger? Yes, that had to be it. There was no other explanation. 

Wingdings took another deep breath to calm his soul. She was no threat to him, he reassured himself. Besides, even if she was, he was positive that he could take her on if she decided to start anything.

Just to be on the safe side, he kept a close eye on the new monster as she walked over to the bar.

“Hey, were are you going? We’re sitting over here.” The Snowdrake called out to the mystery monster, but she continued her path and sat on one of the stools, dropping her bag onto the floor. “Tch, fine. Your loss.” Then the Snowdrake turned back to chat with his friends.

Grillby smiled warmly as the young monster sat down at the bar. She looked a little down today, _“Holly, it’s always a pleasure to have you drop by.”_ Grilllby said in a friendly manner, hoping that his sunny disposition would brighten her up a little bit. 

Thankfully, it did, and Holly’s sour face broke into a half-smile, “It’s good to see you two Grillbz. I’ll have my usual.”

Grillby nodded, _“I’ll be right back.”_ he said as he walked into the back room, leaving Wingdings with the new monster.

Holly turned to face the skeleton as he was obviously pretended to be busy by cleaning an already spotless counter, not-so-subtly stealing a glance at her every two seconds. 

“Wow. You’re a skeleton.” Holly smirked. “Haven’t seen much of your kind around here.”

“And you’re an ice tiefling. I can point out the obvious too.”

“Woah there bud, don’t you know better than to assume a monster’s element?” she chuckled as she feigned being hurt, “What if I was a water tiefling? Then you would look so stupid right now.” 

Wingdings straightened himself up and turned to look at the new monster dead in the eye, “Yes, while a light blue skin tone is more common in the water element of your race, it is not an uncommon occurrence for a ice tiefling to also have a bluish hue to their naturally white pigmentation, especially when they have mixed heritage. Besides that, your short horns and distinct four-spiked tail are way give away your origins, not your skin color. Only a fool would judge a person based on that feature alone.”

Holly only stared at Wingdings, even people within earshot were surprised by the knowledge behind the words that spilled out of the skeleton’s mouth. It was almost like he had just spoken another language with how naturally is came out.

Then Holly laughed. The sound cause Wingding’s senses to heighten. Obviously his body was preparing for defense. It could be nothing else.

“I like you. You’ve got spunk. Holly Frost, nice ta meet cha!” Holly grinned widely as she shot out her hand in front of the young skeleton.

“Wingdings.” he replied plainly as he loosely shook the tiefling’s hand. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work now.”

“Aw, c’mon. Can’t you stay awhile?”

“Hey busboy! We’re waiting over here!” Holly scowled as at the familiar voice of Snowey. It grated at her nerves. Wingdings didn’t look to happy either, but he knew when duty called. He moves away from the counter and over to the booth where the teenagers sat.

Holly just sighed heavily. 

It was around this time that Grillby came back from the kitchen with a small paper bag. “ _One order of curly fries. Order up.”_

Holly eyed Grillby with a smirk.

_“What?”_

“I didn’t know you were hiring. What ever happened to ‘I can do everything just fine by myself’.” Holly said with a playful smirk.

Grillby sighed, but had a soft smile on his face, _“I just thought it would be nice to have the extra hands, that’s all.”_

“Hey, it’s fine, I know you have your reasons.” Holly rose her hands up, “Although, I wish you could have had this change of heart when I was looking for a job. I would have loved to work here.”

_“And have you eat all my food?”_ Grillby said slyly. Holly stuck out her tongue. _“Besides, aren’t you glad you got that internship at Dr. Castora’s office. I heard that it was pretty competitive to get in.”_

“I mean, yeah. I love working for the doc, but hardly anything exciting happens there. Here on the other hand, if you had hired me, I would have run this place like it was a party every night!”

_“Heaven help us all.”_

“Ha ha, your so funny.” Holly said sarcastically, “But for real, where did you get the kid.” She gestured towards the booth near the end of the restaurant. He had just finished writing down the orders for the group of teenagers and was making his way towards the fire elemental. 

“Okay, I need five orders of fries, and five of something called ‘tequilla’? I don’t know what that is but they were very insistent that they get them.” 

Grillby sighed heavily, clearly annoyed. _“I’ll take care of the drinks. I believe we have some fries in the deep fryer. Do you remember how to take out the fries?”_

“Yes sir.” He replied, then walked off to the kitchen. While the skeleton did this, Grillby prepared five glasses and filled them up with what was clearly just plain tap water. All without answering Holly’s question.

Holly let out a huff of a laugh and rolled her eyes. Sometimes she believed that Grillby liked to be unnecessarily mysterious, but at least he had a good sense of humor. 

Wingdings came back fairly quickly with the fries on two trays in his hands. Expertly, Grillby passed on the glasses of water onto the tray as the young skeleton shuffled past him. Wingding walked carefully over to the booth of teenagers, so as not to drop any of the contents from his tray.

“Here are your orders, would you like me to split your cheque.”

“Finally, it took you long enough.” The Snowdrake rolled his eyes, “We’ve been waiting here forever.”

“Actually, between the time of your arrival and now you have only been here for a little less than fifteen minutes.”

The Snowdrake glares at Wingdings, “Are you smart mouthing me?”

“No, I am simply correcting your miscalculation.”

The Snowdrake growled, but his demeanor changed when he saw the drinks on the tray, “Well, I guess I’ll forgive you this one time. You made yourself useful today.”

Wingdings just nodded, “So, would you like me to split your cheque.”

“Oh, yes please.” The quiet bunny monster squeaked out, but she looked down when the Snowdrake glowered at her.

“You can put my bill on my tab. Don’t worry, I’m good for it.”

“As you wish, sir.” Wingdings responded, then he walked off.

On his way to print out the cheque for the others, Wingdings decided to visit his brothers once again. He knelt down in front on the tent and carefully pulled open the flaps. He smiled when he saw Sans and Papyrus sitting close together solving a puzzle together. They looked to be half way done with it too. Wingdings could almost make out the picture of a cat and dog cuddling.

“Hey, are you having fun?”

“uh huh.” Sans replied, smiling up at his older brother.

“That’s good.”

“Hey! Busboy! What’s the big idea?!”

Out of nowhere, Wingdings feels the collar of his shirt being pulled back as he is thrown away from the small tent and towards the middle of the bar. Looking up, he saw that it was the Snowdrake. Windings groaned internally.

“Oh, you think you’re just hilarious, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry?” Wingdings asked, confused.

“Just cause your new in town does not mean you can mess with me and get away with it. Do you even know who I am?”

“No.” he replied, deadpanned.

“Snowy, leave him alone.” Holly interjected herself into the argument as she grabbed the Snowdrake’s wing.

“Stay out of this.” He pushed her away, facing Wingdings once again, “I’m the monster that’s gonna kick your bony butt.”

Wingding’s body stiffened, but he was determined to remain calm. He did not want to get into another fight. He calmly stood up at his full height and looked down at the troublesome monster. “If that is the case then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This establishment has a zero tolerance policy with violence.”

Without warning, Snowy shoved Wingdings so hard he fell onto the floor. His skull collided onto the hardwood floor making him feel dizzy for a second. Then he felt a pressure on his throat that slowly increased while it blocked off the air from getting to his pounding soul. When he looked up at the thing holding him down, he chocked on his own shaky breath.

He was no longer in the restaurant. He was in an small, empty, white room. A white room stained with burn marks and splotches of blue and orange magic all over the floors and walls. He was very familiar with the room he was in, and he felt so cold.

And he saw Them.

They had taken on one of their favorite forms, a pale lizard monster with wickedly sharp teeth and tail. Their lab coat was slightly burned from various of other experiments that had failed. Wingding’s breath picked up as those cold, blood red eyes stared down at him mercilessly. The sharp talons they had for feet were pressed against his neck, pushing harder and harder, choking him. 

What did he do? Did he fail a test? Did he try to attack them? Were they going to kill him? What would they do to Sans and Papyrus.

“I-I-I’m s-so-” Wingdings managed to sputter out through his struggled breath. Trying to make things right so as to spare the lives of his brothers, at least.

The emotionless being chuckled as to smirked cruelly, “Maybe next time you’ll actually listen when I say I want the tequila.”

Wait . . . What?

The weight around his neck released suddenly, and Wingdings gasped desperately for precious oxygen. His breathing was too fast and quickly getting out of control. He felt like his soul was about to burst. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees to try and control his breathing, but it didn’t do much to help. He was left staring at the white floor of the test room, his bloodied hands and the ugly holes that were cut into them.

_“Dings? Are you okay?”_ a familiar voice broke through the skeleton’s panic. Enough for him to realize that his hands were clean. He was still in the restaurant, the teenagers were gone, Sans and Papyrus were safe by his side, and everyone in the establishment was staring at him.

That’s when he felt the familiar pressure in the tips of his fingers.

No . . . Nonononononononono! Not here! Please not here! Not in front of all these monsters!

With the little presence of mind he still had, he rushed to the kitchen, up the stairs, into the living room, then slammed the door of his bedroom.

When he was sure he was finally alone, he dropped onto the floor. The paralyzing panic washed over him as his body shifted and snapped without his consent. 

________________________________________________

Grillby had been in the kitchen preparing burgers for his other customers when he heard the commotion. He rushed over to the dining room to find Snowy pinning Wingdings to the ground by the throat. Holly was trying to pull the Snowdrake off of the fallen skeleton, but some of Snowy’s lackeys were holding her back or keeping the other patrons at bay while Snowy attacked Wingdings.

This would not do at all.

In a flash, Grillby summoned his own magic and shot them towards the bullets of the young monsters. The bullets dissipated quickly against his own magic. Then, he grabbed the young Snowdrake, yanking him off of Wingdings so the skeleton could breath again. His temperature elevated as a result to his seething rage.

He knew Snowy was a troublesome child, but he never imagined that he would attack one of his employees like this. The fire elemental glared at the now shivering Snowdrake.

_“Get out.”_ He growled lowly.

“B-But what about my-”

_“Do not make me repeat myself.”_ Grillby said as he dropped Snowy onto the floor.

“I’m going to tell my father about this, and you’ll never have another customer again.”

_“I’ll take my chances.”_ the flame simmered, _“Now for the last time, leave now and do not come back.”_

Snowy glared at Grillby one last time before he and his friends turned tails and left the bar as quickly as they could. Only then did Grillby calm himself to take stock of the situation.

At this point, Sans and Papyrus had rushed out of their tent to comfort their older brother, but it did not seem to do much good, Wingdings appeared to be uninjured, but he was on his hands and knees breathing heavily. His eye lights were flickering wildly, like he was incapable of comprehending anything around him.

_“Dings? Are you okay?”_

The skeleton flinched as he slowly looked up taking stock of his surrounding. But then, he jumped onto his feet and rushed out of the dinning room into the kitchen.

“BROTHER, WAIT!” Papyrus shouted as he and Sans chased after the older skeleton. Grillby followed suit, concern filling his soul.

Grillby was at the top of the stair when he hear the door slam loudly. Sans and Papyrus were standing outside of the door to their designated bedroom. From their shifting, he could tell that they were too nervous to go in.

Grillby gently knocks on the door.

“ _Dings? What’s the matter. Are you alright?”_

There is no response.

Ever so carefully, Grillby opened the door. What he saw inside, he could honestly say that he wasn’t too surprised.

Grillby’s natural light illuminated the room, and he could see Wingdings was sitting hunched over on the floor near his bed. His hazy eye lights staring blankly at the ground. Wingdings unconsciously scratched at his forearm with his newly formed claws. The tail he had sprouted was curled up close to his body, wrapping around his leg tightly. His muzzle filled with sharp teeth opened and closed with each heavy breath he took, and the sharp spikes on his skull continued to lengthen with his distress. He looked similar to what Sans and Papyrus had turned into, but only partially. He still had a humanoid shape to him despite his dragon like features that emerged.

Sans and Papyrus immediately shift into their own canine-dragon hybrid forms and rush over to their brother. They nuzzled their muzzles into his chest, licked his face, and tried to get his attention, but he seemed fixed on something none of them could see.

After the initial shock over his new charge’s appearance, Grillby started to take in some other details in Wingdings, like his rigid posture, his vacant stare, and his quickening breath.

Grillby immediately recognized that Wingdings was experiencing an panic attack. Fortunately for him, he had plenty of experience with these kinds of things and knew how to help.

Slowly, so as not to startle the young boy, Grillby walked into the room and slid down onto the floor next to Wingdings. He gently placed his hand on Wingdings shoulder, trying to gauge whether his touch was appreciated or not. Wingdings initially flinched, but his tension lessened ever so slightly.

_“Wingdings, I need you to concentrate on your breathing. Stay in the present. Can you do that?”_

Wingdings did not look at Grillby. At first the fire elemental thought he couldn’t hear him, but then Wingdings nodded slightly. If Grillby hadn’t been looking, he never would have seen it.

_“Good.”_ Grillby smiled reassuringly, _“Now, I’m going to count to ten, and I want you to follow my breathing. Ready?”_

No response, but Grillby continues.

“One.” In.

“Two.” Out.

“Three.” In.

“Four.” Out.

“Five.” In.

“Six.” Out.

“Seven.” In.

“Eight.” Out.

“Nine.” In.

“Ten.” Out.

At the last breath, Wingdings’ breathing had settled down to a normal rhythm. His body still trembled, but it did not look like his form was shifting anymore. It settled on his partially transformed form. He carefully looked around the room, spotting Sans and Papyrus by his side. He scoops them up in his mutated arms and hugs them close to his body. The young boys return the gesture tenfold, rubbing their heads into Wingding’s chest while whimpering softly.

Grillby’s eye narrowed tightly, _“Does this kind of thing happen often?”_ he asked, but received no answer. Wingdings just held onto his brothers tightly as he stared at the floor, his eye lights were sharp but his mind was a million miles away.

Grillby sighed sympathetically, _“We can talk more about this at a later time.”_ He whispered gently as he squeezed the young skeleton’s shoulder reassuringly, _“You don’t have to come back down if you don’t want to. We’ll try again tomorrow. Just take all the time you need.”_

Grillby silently exits the room. He left the bedroom door slightly ajar as he made his way back downstairs.

When he entered the bar again, he saw Holly jump off her chair and run towards him. She was clearly concerned.

“Is he okay?” Holly asked.

Grillby sighed, _“Honestly, I do not know.”_

“Oh . . .” the tiefling frowned and looked down at her fidgeting hands, “Well . . . I hope that everything turns out okay.”

_“Me too.”_

Holly glanced up at the clock on the wall, then grabbed her bag from the off the ground, “I should head back to class. See you tomorrow?”

_“Yes, see you then.”_ Grillby waved Holly off as she walked out the door and into the chilly Snowdin air.

Luckily for Grillby, the rest of the day past by uneventfully. The hours past quickly as the flame served his usual patrons their food and drinks. However, he was more distracted tonight, and he knew exactly why.

He was still concerned for Wingdings. He wanted so badly to check up on him again, but he felt like it wouldn't do much good. He would probably stress the young skeleton even more. He knew that Sans and Papyrus would be able to calm him better than he could. He hadn’t gained the young skeleton’s trust yet. 

But he would do anything he could to earn it.

Before he knew it, it was time for the restaurant to close for the day.

Grillby kindly guided the remaining customers out the door. Waving to them as they set off to their own homes. Some of the patrons who drank too much had more of a stumble in their step, so they were given a partner to walk them home. Once they were out of sight, Grillby walked back into the bar, locking the door behind him.

Grillby let out a long sigh. Today had been rough, but at least it was half way over. All he needed to do was clean up for the night and then he could . . .

Grillby heard a sound coming from the kitchen. It sounded like running water and clattering dishes.

Slowly, Grillby made his way into the kitchen. When he opened the door, he was surprised by what he saw.

Wingdings stood at the sink in the back of the kitchen, attacking the piles of dirty dishes with soap and a scrubber. He was back to his normal skeletal form. There were no spikes curling out from his skull, no claws sprouting from his hands, and the tail was completely gone. He seemed much calmer than he was a few hours ago, which Grillby was relieved to see.

He smiled softly, then carefully walked over to the sink, pulling on a pair of thick rubber gloved. He could sense Wingding’s eye lights glancing over at him, but he did not say anything or even acknowledges him. He simply continued to scrub off the the stray food and condiments from the silverware and plates.

The flame did the same, picking up a plate washing the dishes. Side by side the young skeleton. They did not say anything to each other. They just let the sound of running water fill the comfortable silence of the room. 

It was peaceful.

Today may have been bad, but at the very least it was a start.


End file.
